1801.

NOVEMBER. LAWS OF M A R Y L A N D.

C H A P.
CVIL

ever issued to the said Ninian Beale for the land aforesaid, although there is reason to be
lieve that a grant must have issued from the payments of the quit-rents, and the long, quiet and
uninterrupted possession of the same in the said Ninian Beale, and those claiming under him

And whereas the said Sarah Russell Contee, Anne Lee, Eleanor Benson and Margaret Clarke, are
apprehensive their title to the said land may be incomplete for; want of a patent thereof, and have -
prayed this general assembly for relief in the premises; which being thought reasonable, therefore,

Chancellor to
inquire, &c.

II BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the chancellor be and he is. hereby
authorised and empowered to inquire into ail the circumstances touching or concerning the said
tract of land called Beale' s Reserve, situate, lying and being in Prince-George's county, and ori-
ginally taken up, or supposed to be taken up, by a certain Ninian. Beale, in or about the year one
thousand six hundred and ninety-two, and if, upon examination of all the facts and circumstances
relative to said land, it shall appear satisfactory, to the chancellor- that the said land was taken up
by the said Ninian Beale, and that in his opinion the said Ninian Beale was- in equity and justice
entitled to a grant for the same, and that the said land has been transmitted by regular convey-
ances to the aforesaid Richard Lee, from whom it has legally descended to the aforesaid Sarah
Russell Contee, Anne Lee, Eleanor Benson and Margaret Clarke, that then and. in such case the
chancellor shall have full power and authority, if he shall deem it necessary, to cause the said
land, or any tract or drafts contiguous thereto, to be surveyed by the surveyor of Prince-George's
county, who in pursuance of the order of the chancellor shall return a. plot of the same, and
thereupon the chancellor, may direct the register of the land-office for, the western shore to issue
a patent for the said land to the aforesaid Sarah Russell Contee, Anne Lee, Eleanor Benson and
Margaret Clarke their heirs and assigns, to have and to hold the same as tenants in common, who
shall thereupon be considered the legal proprietors of the said land to all intents and purposes
whatever; provided nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall in any manner affect the
right of any person heretofore acquired in or to the said land, and that the patent, if any, to be
issued in virtue of this act, shall only be taken and construed to transfer all the right, title and
interest of the state, in and to the said land,

C H A P. CVIII.

Passed 31st of
Dec. 1801,
Preamble.

An ACT for tlie relief of sundry insolvent debtors,

WHEREAS Thomas Bond and John Llewellin Briscoe, of Saint-Mary's county, Ebenezer
Perkins, Joshua Vansant ami William Brown, of Joseph, of Kent county, Richard Chew,
Jonathan Beard and Henry Ridgely, of Henry, of Anne-Arundel county, Benjamin Robinson,
junior, Levi Butler, Joseph Boarman, of Raphael, Henry, Thompson, Henry Hagan and Townley
Yates, of Charles county, Thomas Barney, Andrew Bell, Martin Doyle, John H. Poe, Thomas
Royston, John Hooker, John Wade, Robert Barker, Philip Woolrick, Ludwick Switser, Matthew
Chambers, William Green, William Fine John Houlton, Robert Courtney, John Cox and John
Michael, of Baltimore county, John Erskine, William Corner, Edward Bromwell, junior, Charles
M. Broniweil, Thomas Gordon, Timothy L. Price, Joseph, Price, Robert Neal, James, Millia,
William Patton, Antes Chapman and Samuel Swan, of Talbot county, William Bosnian, William
Rowan and John Bruff, of Somerset. county. Peter Medford, Robert. Rolle and John M'Laran, of
Dorchester county, Joseph Reynolds, Robert Swan, Wilder Bevans, John Walmsley, James P.,
Ewing, John Ward, John H. Price and James Fulton, of Caecil county, Joseph Boone, Thomas-
Boone, Charles Scott and Levin C. Wailes, of Prince-George's county, William Rawlings, Ed-
ward James Price and James Ray, of the city of Annapolis, Joseph Massey, Philemon Murphey,,
Samuel Sylvester, Richard Wilson and Henry Costin, of Queen- Anne's county, Francis Rosse and
Levin Parsons, of Worcester county, Jacob Hull, William Sellman, John Ringland, John Marky
and Levi Philips, of Frederick county, John Peter Genet, John Ashmead, Isaac M'Nabb, Isaac
Montgomery, Archibald Rob in sou and James Richardson, of Harford. county, Peregrine Driver,
Joshua Willis, Charles Baker and William Boone, of Caroline county David C. Hatch, Thomas
Reid, John League, George Carnaghan, Robert Dew, junior, John Usher, Robert Jordan, Daniel
Robertson, Thomas Ennis, Joseph Usher, William Waddle, Robert Spencer, William Marks,
Andrew Estave, Charles Form an, Lott Warfield, Dominick Jordan, Pearle Durkee, Henry Wor-
thington, Henry Troop and Thomas M'Namara, of the city of Baltimore, Samuel Ferguson, Sa-
muel Marshall and John Miller, of Washington county, Ring English, Robert Beall, of James,
Lewis Duvall and Washington, Drane, of James. of Montgomery county, Samuel B. Beall and
Robert Sinclaire, of Allegany county, by their petitions to this general assembly have set forth,
that, by reason of many misfortunes they are unable wholly to pay their debts, and have prayed.
that they may be discharged therefrom, upon their delivering up all their property for the use of
thier creditors; and the prayer of the said petitioners being found reasonable, therefore
II. By